You might be using your drone, or thinking about getting one, to help document your epic vacation or ultra-romantic wedding with some magnificent aerial shots. But lets for a moment think a little bigger. What if your drone could survey several acres of crops, or document the construction of a building? Subsequently, what if the drone could then water the crops, or assist in constructing a skyscraper?
Drones have a monstrous potential that is tough to overstate. They could revolutionize the way we look at transportation, eliminate some of the more cumbersome jobs, give birth to many others, and totally change our perception of distance! Drones could transport medicine to those who need it, bring the internet to those who don’t have it and help in surveillance systems for law enforcement. We are at the beginning of a great time for automation!
The very beginning of drone technology can be traced back to the Austrian military, which used unmanned helium balloons to drop artillery on opposition forces in 1849. The idea of unmanned vehicles took different forms since then. Many countries over the world upped each other in cunning to devise countless ways of flying unmanned vehicles in the hopes of gaining an upper hand in war throughout the 20th century. In fact, it took around 160 years for drones to break out of the shadows into commercial usage, since their invention.
By the 2010s, commercial, artistic and much more wholesome purposes were found for drones. Filmmakers, businessmen and generally tech-savvy individuals helped drones stray away from their past capabilities toward more fulfilling pursuits. Since 2019, drones have happily ‘infiltrated’ (pun intended) the mindset of the daily buyer due to the immense possibilities up on offer. The drone’s evolution into a recreational powerhouse has been made possible with the affordable production costs that we enjoy today.
The spike in drone industry growth that has occurred in the last few years is a clear indication of its popularity. The drone services market is sized at an estimated $4.4 billion in 2018, and it is predicted to grow to $63.6 billion by 2025! The business of commercially available drones has become a fun and competitive field in and of itself. The future of drone technology has never looked brighter!